General non league chat, match reports, photos etc
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Stuart Fordyce
Well-Known Member
Surely depends on the people Tony - are they decent sorts or like Dartford fans?Large amount of disaffected Gillingham fans in the mix plus they do a fair bit of community outreach work. I'm looking forward to our game there. (Not least because its not even a 10 minute bus ride away!).
I just hope some of our lot don't get too sneery about Chatham is all. It might be a shithole but its my adoptive hometown shithole.
tonysingh
Random Clever and Witty Strapline
Chatham Town fans or folk from the towns? Town fans did have a streak of Yommy Tobinson wannabes but they've been fucked off. From what I've seen, their support is fairly broadly drawn from across Chatham. I know a handful from poetry/arts locally and they're no like Dirtford.
The towns themselves....ehhhhh. Chatham and Gillingham have been done over and rank amongst some of the more socially deprived areas in the south east if not the country as a whole. That means associated social issues like soup kitchens attended by 100+ people, addicts openly using heavy drugs etc etc.
tonysingh
Random Clever and Witty Strapline
They should be champions tbf. Football ain't fair though.
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
Personally I don't think there could be a better example of why play-offs should be scrapped. County finished 35 points ahead of Borehamwood, coming from 2 goals behind to win in the final minute of extra time, and 23 points ahead of Chesterfield, coming within 3 minutes of losing in normal time before winning by a shootout. Sadly some people will think all that amounts to great entertainment and is a brilliant advertisement for play-offs.
It was much the same when we beat Hendon for our last promotion, they finished 10 points behind and in the end it came down to a couple of saves in the shootout by our third choice keeper and a substitute holding his nerve to convert the final kick.
The whole thing is a freak show for the neutrals, while supporters of lower placed teams get a massive sense of entitlement over their free hit at eliminating a better team. I've had several arguments on social media this week with supporters of various clubs complaining bitterly that Oxford and Brackley (the relatively small clubs hosting today's National South and North finals) haven't allocated more tickets than the minimum league requirement of 450 for away supporters. How many teams normally take anywhere near that number of supporters to Oxford or Brackley? If they can fill their grounds with part-time locals why should they give tickets to away fans attending their first away game of season?
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
Oxford City have an early 2-0 lead over St Albans in today's National South play-off final. I'll never understand why teams faff around at the back like this with forwards lurking. The commentator seems to blame the keeper but why on earth did the full back give him that pass in the first place?
Cat Daisy
Well-Known Member
No, didn’t Setanta show a final a few years ago? Hampton?
scousedom
Well-Known Member
I think I remember lower down the Italian pyramid perhaps they have playoffs but only if you’re within a certain number of points of the team above. I can’t quite remember how it works / worked. But that seems to me a good compromise. Keep the season alive for more teams but if someone is levels above (and Notts were 0.75point per game above) then they get to go up without playoffs.
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
Yes, we're clearly stuck with the play-offs, as too many people think they're a great idea. However I feel there needs to be a contingency whereby any team finishing x points ahead of their prospective opponent gets a bye to the next phase, with the lowest placed team eliminated automatically, and if they're far enough ahead of the next best team they simply win promotion with no play-offs taking place.
scousedom
Well-Known Member
Very thankful for the “one leg, played at the home of the higher placed team” system. it’s not perfect but it’s a good reward for what’s been earned over the season.
pompeydunc
Well-Known Member
In Serie B, if the third place team is more than ten points clear of fourth, then they go up automatically and there are no play-offs. If they do go ahead, then to enter, a team must be within 15 points of third and I think up to six teams can be in the play-offs.
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Hamlet Pete
Well-Known Member
These are all good points, but wasn't it funny when we beat Bognor after having 31 points less than them...
Hamlet Pete
Well-Known Member
Club allocations 2023-24 have been made. Have to feel for Bishop's Stortford who have been place in the National North for next season... Oh, and we're in the Isthmian League!
REVEALED: Club allocations 2023-24 announced by The FA - The Non-League Football Paper
REVEALED: Club allocations 2023-24 announced by The FA - The Non-League Football Paper
Don't Slow Down
Well-Known Member
There were some of their supporters post match distraught, sat on the terracing and as I look back, well, couldn't have happened to a nicer club!
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
This year's Southern League Premier is a big improvement for Winchester City. Three renewed local derbies against promoted Basingstoke, Sholing and Totton, plus Didcot and Hungerford aren't far, and easily doable by train. Plus we've lost two long haul trips (WSM and Truro).
Looking forward to the fixtures list already.......
Looking forward to the fixtures list already.......
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
Harrow Borough are considering appealing against the decision NOT to relegate them from the Southern Premier.
They finished 4th from bottom but were reprieved after Met Police asked to be relegated.
Really underlines the financial pressures clubs at this level are under.
www.pitchero.com
They finished 4th from bottom but were reprieved after Met Police asked to be relegated.
Really underlines the financial pressures clubs at this level are under.
Club Statement: 2023/24 League Allocation
Following yesterday's announcement from The FA, Harrow Borough FC make the following statement.
www.pitchero.com
darryl
this wasn't supposed to happen
Harrow Borough are considering appealing against the decision NOT to relegate them from the Southern Premier.
They finished 4th from bottom but were reprieved after Met Police asked to be relegated.
Really underlines the financial pressures clubs at this level are under.
Club Statement: 2023/24 League Allocation
Following yesterday's announcement from The FA, Harrow Borough FC make the following statement.
I take it that they wanted the relegation so they got the Isthmian place instead of Met Police?
I can't quite imagine how Bishop's Stortford must be feeling, being placed in National League North yet just 15 miles from a tube station!
Hamlet Pete
Well-Known Member
It does seem harsh but I'm not sure what else the FA could have done. Seen a possible solution of Hemel moving into the North instead due to their proximity to the M1 motorway, but neither is ideal.
This map shows how crazy the situation is:
A Midland division would be an idea but how would relegation and promotion work then?
This map shows how crazy the situation is:
A Midland division would be an idea but how would relegation and promotion work then?
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
Harrow were relegated to the Isthmian League (South Central Division) but now they've been reprieved and reinstated in the Southern League Premier South Division because Met Police (who finished 8th) wanted to be relegated instead!
Only last year Met Police contested the play-offs for promotion to National South, as they did in 2015 and 2019, but apparently their funding from the Police Lottery has been withdrawn. I always thought it was daft to spend that money bankrolling a semi-pro football team with little support, and limited appeal to potential new supporters, instead of spending it for the benefit of serving and former police officers.
Don't Slow Down
Well-Known Member
Paul Barnes has been appointed manager of Hastings United.
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
Looks like they'll be training at Greenwich. It will be interesting to see how he fares with an opportunity to recruit a squad of his own choice and prepare properly before the season starts. I wonder whether any of our players will follow him?
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
That is a ridiculous spread. I'm sure Winchester City played both Banbury and Hereford in the Wessex not so long ago.
I think the FA are too wedded to a 2, 4, 8, 16 pyramid (which makes sense at first glance), but that map underlines what a crazy situation has resulted.
and I complain about Winch having to go to Plymouth and Merthyr!
editor
hiraethified
Thank fuck for that too.
I don't think either Hereford or Banbury have ever been in the Wessex. FA Vase or Cup perhaps?
The Wessex is also an issue. Not many Step Four clubs in its footprint so they have to shoe horn geographically iffy clubs in at Step Five, which means they struggle to recruit players and hit all sorts of problems - hello Pagham who thankfully have now got out.
It's even worse at Step Six where there are few clubs interested / capable due to the insane ground requirements at that level. (Floodlights and big stands for teams usually watched by a smattering of people? Really?) As such anyone relegated to Step Six near me often gets transferred to the Wessex and promptly lose all their players, management and often volunteers. It has done real damage to both Ash and Fleet Spurs. I fear the newly transferred Cove and Frimley Green will also hit problems.
The Wessex is also an issue. Not many Step Four clubs in its footprint so they have to shoe horn geographically iffy clubs in at Step Five, which means they struggle to recruit players and hit all sorts of problems - hello Pagham who thankfully have now got out.
It's even worse at Step Six where there are few clubs interested / capable due to the insane ground requirements at that level. (Floodlights and big stands for teams usually watched by a smattering of people? Really?) As such anyone relegated to Step Six near me often gets transferred to the Wessex and promptly lose all their players, management and often volunteers. It has done real damage to both Ash and Fleet Spurs. I fear the newly transferred Cove and Frimley Green will also hit problems.
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
Fair cop. It must have been in the Southern League South and West before we last got relegated to the Wessex.
Hamlet Pete
Well-Known Member
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